2004 film by Adam McKay
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy is a 2004 American satirical comedy film directed by Adam McKay in his directorial debut, produced by Judd Apatow, starring Will Ferrell and Christina Applegate and written by McKay and Ferrell. The first installment in the Anchorman series, the film is a tongue-in-cheek take on the culture of the 1970s, particularly the new Action News format. It portrays a San Diego television station where news anchor Ron Burgundy (Ferrell) clashes with his new co-anchor Veronica Corningstone (Applegate).
The film was released by DreamWorks Pictures on July 9, 2004 and made $28.4 million in its opening weekend, and $90.6 million worldwide against a $26 million budget in its theatrical run. It was met with lukewarm reviews from critics upon release but has undergone a gradual critical reassessment since then as one of the greatest comedy films ever made. It was ranked at number 100 on Bravo's 100 funniest movies, number 6 on Time Out's top 100 comedy films of all time, number 113 on Empire's 500 Greatest Movies of All Time, and number 49 on Rolling Stone's 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century.
Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie, a companion film assembled from outtakes and abandoned subplots, was released straight-to-DVD on December 28, 2004. A sequel, Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, was released on December 18, 2013, with Paramount Pictures replacing DreamWorks Pictures as the distributor.
Plot summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.